Stereo Embers: The Podcast

"My Good Friends" The Ohio-born David Wilcox is one of our great treasures. Over the course of his career the singer/songwriter has put out nearly 25 perfect albums, including 1989's How Did You Find Me Here, 1991's Home Again, 2003's Into The Mystery and his brand new one, My Good Friends.Bringing to mind Nick Drake, John Gorka, Milo Binder and Joni Mitchell, Wilcox is one of those rare singer/songwriters whose body of work has no dip in quality. My Good Friends is a perfect example of how Wilcox just keeps crushing it. From the retrospective romp of the title track, to the stirring Just A Trace Of Light to the deeply moving album closer This Is How It Ends, Wilcox has never sounded better. Observational, compelling, and wise, Wilcox's work is always punctuated by an artful blend of delicacy and strength. His resume' is a long one, but some highlights include playing Carnegie Hall, opening for the Indigo Girls, and being on the cover of Acoustic Guitar magazine. www.davidwilcox.com www.bombshellradio.com

"Hard To Find" Okay, so if you're a regular listener to the podcast, you've heard me talk endlessly about Starclub. The song you just heard Hard To Get is, in my opinion, the best pop song of the '90s, and the band's self-titled debut album from 1994 is just perfect and it seemed the band was positioned for a long and decorated career. But that career never happened and although they signed the biggest contract for a debut album in Island Records history, the label lost interest after the album didn't scale the heights they expected and they dropped the band from their roster.I've been obsessed with the Starclub story for years--I never got how a band this good, a band shot through with so much talent and promise, could just fade away with only one record under their belts. We've done several episodes with the band--the singer Owen Vyse was on, then Owen and bassist Julian Taylor did an episode, and then guitarist Steve French did one as well and slowly the picture of the band's demise started to really come

“The Songs Between The Docks and the Roads” Over the course of his career, the east London-born singer/songwriter Graham Parker has put out close to thirty albums and they’re all great. All of them—Whether its Howlin' Wind or Squeezing out Sparks or Another Grey Area or Deepcut To Nowhere or Cloud Symbols, every single GP album is a winner. Parker grew up a huge fan of the Beatles, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and ska and reggae music and you can hear those influences coursing through his songbook. His compositions swing and shake and sway and groove with some of the most infectious pop hooks you’ll ever hear. Parker’s early life could be a series of novels—he hung out in the Channel Islands and Paris, hitchhiked thourhg Spain and Morocco and worked on the docks in Gibraltar. And you and I both know, there are stories in between those docks and roads and islands. Graham Parker has lived a life. And his life in music is equally as staggering as his adventures. With his band the Rumor he was produced by Nick Lowe,

“Dynamic, Kinetic and Unexpected” So a quick introduction to the principal members of the 3 Clubmen will give you a foundational understanding of what this band is all about. Or will it? It won’t, because their sound is so unexpected and fresh and inventive, that a little background can’t prepare you for what they sound like, but introductions are part of our job, so let’s get that out of the way. Andy Partridge is one of the greatest songwriters to ever walk the planet. His work with XTC pretty much cements that statement, but his work outside of XTC with Robyn Hitchcock and Martin Newell just give further evidence that Partridge is a first-rate talent whose discography is comprised of classic upon classic. The Swindon-Based producer/musician and Professor Stu Rowe has played with everyone from Paul Weller to Future Sound Of London to Shriekback and the L.A.-born Jen Olive has an extensive resume, including writing and recording for A&M Records, putting out her own albums and contributing music to variou

“The Unspeakable Milo Binder” Milo Binder put out one brilliant album in 1991 and then, that was that. He was gone. Alias Records was an indie rock label that had folks like Too Much Joy and The Sneetches and when they put out Milo’s album was a huge departure from their roster. A eleven song folk album, Binder’s self-titled release was one of those rare instances where the artist arrived fully formed with no need to take three or four albums to find their musical footing or narrative voice. Songs like "Donald Thorn" and "A Boy And His Career" were wise and observational and his guitar playing was rich and assured, his delivery confident and brimming with belief. He called into my college radio show Bedtime With Alex on KSMC and he was gracious enough to play two songs while his girlfriend held the phone for him—Donald Thorn from the first album and the song you just heard Skywriters, which would be from the second. But the second one never came until now, 32 years later it’s about to arrive. Titled The Unsp

“Born To Archive" Alright, so imagine this: The thing you do really well as a kid becomes your career. In the case of my guest today on the program, that’s exactly what happened. Jackie Clary is a born archivist. As a young girl growing up, she was a huge fan of Wham! and George Michael, and she started collecting ephemera that was related to them and their music. But it wasn’t just that—Jackie had a librarian like penchant for cataloging and preserving a lot of things that extended far past Wham! Jackie has had a really cool career and this list of her accomplishments is only a partial one, but one eI read through it, you’ll get the idea of what she’s done. She worked at Reelin’ In The Years, researching and cataloging a 20,000 hour strong cache of interview and music performance, she ran the tape library for ABC news affiliates, she worked for MTV News and Docs, produced the videos for the Roots Rhymes and Rage: The Hip-Hop Story at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was the lead curator of the Hall’s fi

“4th of July Special: What's The Point Of A Strawberry?” Well, not counting the fact that they lower your blood pressure, are high in fiber, rich in antioxidants and guard you from cancer, strawberries are pretty much useless. In this wildly discursive 4th of July chat with singer-songwriter Shannon McArdle, the Brooklyn musician talks to Alex about why she’s not into strawberries (or fruit for that matter), why she got on a subway in the middle of a pandemic and how she lost the tip of her finger. Look, this is our perennial and evergreen 4th of July Shannon Spectacular and this conversation not only covers all the bases, it will make you forget that there’s no (legal) firework celebrations this year. This chat covers the genius of the new Dylan album, the durability of Soda Stream machines and the 20th anniversary reissue of Shannon’s old band The Mendoza Line’s We’re All In This Alone. Oh, and Alex worries Shannon might get scurvy. And Shannon doesn’t seem worried about this at all. An hour and a half of

“An Crann” Damian O’Neill is best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the legendary band The Undertones. One of Northern Ireland’s most successful bands, the Derry outfit got their start in 1974 and featured Damian’s brother John on rhythm guitar. The band pretty much tore things up, releasing nearly 15 singles and four classic albums and which still sound as vital today as they ever have. The Undertones are one of the greatest bands of all time and their exhilarating blend of pop and punk remains as dynamic and rousing as ever. The original lineup called it a day in 1983, though a revamped version of the band would reform years later and put out two excellent albums which are strong additions to the band’s legacy. The O’Neill brothers went on to form That Petrol Emotion, who ruled college radio in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, putting out fifteen singles and six fabulous albums, including Manic Pop Thrill and Babble. O’Neill stays busy, putting out a solo album of experimental electronica, playin

“How To Love” The London-born and Scottish based singer/songwriter Dan Willson is truly one of the best we’ve got. Over the course of three albums with his band Withered Hand, Willson has asserted himself as a songwriter of tremendous sensitivity, poetic smarts and lyrical grace. A little history: Willson had played in bands but with art school behind him, when he picked up a guitar at 30 and found that the technicolors of songwriting were as alluring as the visual arts, well, he went on a bit of a tear: 2009’s Good News and 2014’s New Gods rank among two of the most powerful albums of the last twenty years and Willson’s new one—his first in almost a decade—is called How To Love and it completes a rather stunning trilogy of records with clear shots of redemption, recovery and personal resurrection. How To Love almost didn’t happen. And we'll leave that story for Dan to tell, but in the meantime, let's just say this: we're so happy that it did. It’s one of the most joyful, painful, life-affirming and altoget

“Never Say Never” Formed by classmates at the Art Institute in San Francisco at the sunset of the 70s, Romeo Void were one of the most dynamic, inventive and singular outfits around. Fronted by singer Debora Iyall, the classic Romeo Void lineup was Iyall on vocals, Peter Woods on guitar, bassist Frank Zincavage, saxophonist Benjamin Bossi and drummer Aaron Smith. They toured nationally, had fans that ranged from Ric Ocasek of the Cars to Ann Wilson of Heart and they signed to a major label. Things were happening. The band put out three perfect and critically acclaimed albums—It’s a Condition, Benefactor and Instincts--before calling it a day in 1984. A captivating singer, Iyall had the street mart snarl of Jim Carroll and the poetic finesse of Patti Smith and she inhabited each number with strength, vulnerably and wisdom. The songs were frank and honest and their post-punk purity and new wave muscle still sounds as vital today as it did back then. And if you want to check to see if I’m right—the band has ju

“Andy Rourke Remembered” Well, he may have been in a band with the greats, but let’s face it, Andy Rourke was one of them as well. The Manchester born Rourke joined his childhood pal Johnny Marr’s band The Smiths in 1982 and he played with them until their demise in 1987. That’s Rourke you hear on every Smiths record, including The Queen Is Dead, Strangeways Here We Come and Louder Than Bombs. After the legendary band broke up, Rourke played with Sinead O’Connor, The Pretenders, Killing Joke, Badly Drawn Boy, Ian Brown of the Stone Roses and Morrissey. Rourke also teamed up with New Order’s Peter Hook and Mani of the Stone Roses and formed the band Freebass. He also played with Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries in the band D.A.R.K. and around the time I chatted with him, he had formed Blitz Vega with Kav Sandhu, a band that also featured Johnny Marr as a special guest. Rourke’s life was busy and exciting and this list doesn’t cover all he did, but it does serve as a reminder of how brilliant he was. A pr

“Introducing Billy Bradley" A veteran of commercials, movies and television while still only in his 30s, Michael Charles Roman is one of those timeless actors. He’s got the punchline prowess of everyone from Michael J. Fox to Jason Bateman, the comedic instincts of Martin Short and the theatrical range that could find him doing period pieces to contemporary dramas. Roman was in films like Keeping The Faith with Ed Norton and Ben Stiller, Little Nicky with Adam Sandler and Rob Burnett’s We Made This Movie. When it comes to TV, you’ve seen him on Bones, The Good Wife,Veronica Mars, Ground Floor, 2 Broke Girls, Evil, Frequency, and most recently, NetFlix’s Grace and Frankie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.The guy can do it all. And just to test that idea, he decided to do it all on his first short film Introducing Billy Bradley. The film is a semi-autobiographical short written, directed and produced by Roman, who also stars alongside his former Grace and Frankie scene partner Martin Sheen (The West Wing, Ap

“Sea Swallow Me” In the dark, harrowing, and gripping memoir Sea Swallow Me, which details a drug addiction that almost killed her, the Bay Area author Suki Jones writes with a raw immediacy and refreshing candor about not only being dependent on drugs, but keeping that dependency a secret from her family and friends.Set against the backdrop of the Bay Area in the early '90s, Jones balances motherhood and modeling with deft precision, but behind the scenes she was falling apart and roaming the night with punk rockers, metalheads, and sometimes even strangers, just looking for her next fix. A ferocious memoir about broken family history, sexual abuse, and debilitating addiction, Sea, Swallow Me vividly wanders through the decade with a fiery resolve which ultimately reveals how Jones survived when she shouldn't have. Sea, Swallow Me is a powerful tale of resilience and redemption. Suki Jones on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suki_jones/ Sea, Swallow Me on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Swallow-Me-

“On Banjo” In sunny a San Diego high school somewhere in the 70s, while kids were listening to Aerosmith and Van Halen and Boston, Alison Brown was listening to bluegrass. She had started on guitar but gravitated to the banjo and by her teens, she was already pretty proficient on the instrument. She won first place at the Canadian National Banjo Championship, played a gig at the Grand Ole Opry and toured one summer with fiddler Stuart Duncan. After high school She headed to Harvard, knocked out an MBA at UCLA and then went to work as an Investment Banker. You know—the typical bluegrass story you hear all the time. Thinking music was a weekend thing, Brown had a nice balance going but then music decided to tip the scales. Alison Krauss flashed the bat signal for a banjo player and Brown answered the call, and gave up her Wall Street environs for a life in music. And what a life it has been. An internationally recognized virtuoso on banjo, Brown has played with Alison Krauss, Michelle Shocked, fronted her own

“Forwards” For more than 40 years the Welsh band the Alarm have been one of the most consistent acts on the planet, playing songs with conviction, heart and belief. With almost 20 studio albums under their belts, along with a discography that includes live albums, box sets and EPs, The Alarm are one of those bands where you pretty much want everything they put out. From albums like Declaration to Strength to their brand new one Forwards, The Alarm are a completist’s band. Speaking of Forwards, it’s a remarkable record—singer/songwriter Mike Peters has never sounded better, his voice alive with muscle and belief. The Welsh band have had a remarkable career that’s filled with endless highlights-- they toured with U2 and Bob Dylan, played at Queen’s Live at Wembley concert in 1986, been on IRS’s the Cutting Edge and American Bandstand, had hit singles all over the world even cracking the Billboard Top 50 here in the States, and wrote a song that became the official Welsh anthem for Euro 2020. This is a band tha

“Time On Earth” In the early ‘80s, the British born singer-songwriter Pete Astor was the frontman for the band The Loft and when that outfit split up, he formed the Weather Prophets who put out a trio of albums including the fabulous Diesel River and the miraculous Judges Juries and Horsemen. Astor kept the dream alive after the Prophets split up, emerging with fabulous projects like The Wisdom of Harry and Ellis Island Sound. Currently, Astor is a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster, and in 2014, his book on Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation, was published as part of Bloomsbury’s ongoing 33⅓ series on seminal rock and roll albums. Over the years Astor hasn’t stopped putting out solo albums which are practically peerless. From Submarine to One For The Ghost to his outstanding new one Time On Earth, Pete Astor remains one of the most compelling figures in modern music. He’s quietly released a discography that’s redolent with thought, lyrical dexterity, observational smarts and hoo

"Bluegrass Vacation” With close to 20 albums under his belt, including Country Love Songs, Let’s Kill Saturday Night, and his fabulous new one Bluegrass Vacation, Robbie Fulks has had quite a career. Over the last thirty years the Pennsylvania born singer-songwriter has collaborated with everyone from Steve Albini to Dallas Wayne to NRBQ’s Al Anderson, worked as a country music songwriter for the Music Row publisher API and scored two Grammy nominations in 2016 for Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Song. There’s a lot that’s cool about Robbie Fulks—his flatpicking guitar style, his poetic turns of phrase,his unique sense of humor and his penchant to cover songs you’d never think he’d cover—he’s knocked out versions of tracks by everyone from The Bangles to Shania Twain, so you pretty much never know what’s going to happen. But what’s really cool about Robbie Fulks is that he’s an engine of creative power and that engine hasn’t dimmed once in his 30 year career. His new album Bluegrass Vacation is a r

“Born In A Trunk” She may have been born in the Bay Area, but Amy Irving might as well have been born in a theatre. Her father was the film and stage director Julius Irving and her mother was the actress Priscilla Pointer. And what happens when you have theatre parents? Well, you’re in the theatre. A lot. And then you’re on the stage. A lot. And then it’s in your blood and there’s no turning back. Amy Irving got her start on the stage at 9 months old and from there she never stopped. She studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, landed in L.A. and almost immediately started landing role after role in movies and television. What movies and what television, you might be asking? Well, in the movies category she was in Carrie, Delancey Street, The Competition, Honeysuckle Rose and Yentil. She was also the singing voice of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? As for television, she was on Police Woman, Happy Days and Once An Eagle with Sam Elliott and Glenn Ford. And not only was she working

“Bergen Street” The Brooklyn-born Chapin Sisters’s new single—which is their first new material since 2017’s Ferry Boat—is called "Bergen Street" and it’s about moving. And because it’s about moving from Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley, The Chapin sisters have had to have a lot of conversations about that move and what it means. Leaving Brooklyn really is kind of a big deal for sisters Abigail and Lily because they have pretty deep familial roots there.The Chapins are a Brooklyn family and their father Tom and his five brothers put their stamp on the city with their sixties folk band The Chapin Brothers. Two of those brothers you might recognize immediately--Tom Chapin is a well-known folk legend, whose albums for kids are absolute staples and their late uncle Harry, whose "Cats In The Cradle" is a staple on AM radio, was a beloved singer/songwriter as well. Reaching back further, their grandfather Jim Chapin was a well-known and respected jazz drummer. So music and Brooklyn run deep and moving away was a big

“Doctor Moan” Ever since he landed in San Francisco at 19, the Buffalo-born Peter Case pretty much hasn’t stopped making music. He hit the Bay as a busker and from there joined pals Jack Lee and Paul Collins to form the punk band the Nerves. After the Nerves called it a day, Case formed The Plimsouls, who put out a handful of albums that were instant classics. When the Plimsouls broke up, Case stripped things back and put out his first solo album. The self-titled record was a critical favorite, and it kick-started a solo career that has found the singer/songwriter releasing close to 20 albums, including The Man With The Blue Post Modern Fragmented Neo Traditionalist Guitar, Sings Like Hell and his new one Doctor Moan. The Grammy-nominated Case is a true troubadour whose life has been devoted to song. He’s put out several books, including As Far As You Can Get Without A Passport, had his songs covered by everyone from Blondie to Joe Ely to John Prine, opened for the Ramones and John Lee Hooker, collaborated w